The article titled “Fewer qualified educators until 2027”published on November 1 in The dutyencourages us to react in order to invite the government to broaden its analysis of the serious situation of labor shortage in early childhood educational childcare services that we are experiencing.
We believe that it is our responsibility to offer our full collaboration to the government in order to think about efficient solutions which can really contribute to stemming the shortage and the hemorrhage of educators who have been leaving the network by the thousands in recent years. years, to ensure the maintenance of the quality of services offered to young children.
It is widely recognized that educational quality is the main determinant of the positive effect of educational early childhood care on children’s development. Research on educational quality and what contributes to supporting it for more than 25 years in Quebec allows us to affirm that this quality is mainly supported by qualified educators, whose well-being and job satisfaction are high and well-paid. Several recent studies point in this direction and suggest that acting on factors such as the valuation and professional identity of educators is effective in tackling this glaring problem of staff retention.
Among the means to achieve this, better working conditions would be essential to promote the attractiveness as well as the retention of well-trained educational staff capable of offering quality educational services. Since salary is an integral part of these working conditions, offering decent salaries and superior social benefits would contribute to the retention of educators in educational childcare services.
Another way to alleviate the difficulties experienced by educators in educational childcare services, as well as to attract new ones and retain those who are already there, is to offer them the support and accompaniment of advisors. teachers, support and compliance officers and practicing executives. These shadow professionals support educators and prevent the risks of professional burnout and overexposure to stress, especially in the context of the labor shortage. By supporting educators, this greatly contributes to the inclusion of all children in an educational childcare service, including those with special support needs.
Our observations and our knowledge of the environment all point in the same direction, namely that the current conditions of practice are particularly difficult for educational and support staff as well as managers in practice. We believe that the ratio of one qualified person in two which will continue for three years will contribute to accentuating the challenges of educational personnel as well as other early childhood professions in educational childcare services. It is in fact quite easy to imagine that the most experienced educators, those who have more than 12 to 15 years of experience, will be called upon even more to support the new unqualified educators who will enter the coming months and years.
Our analysis of the situation is also that new recruits are not attracted to the profession due in particular to these difficult working conditions, but above all because of the low remuneration associated with this profession. In the current context of labor shortage, new generations can choose between many professions that are better paid than that of early childhood educator. We must therefore attract them with more than thanks, because they are no longer only interested in the vocation. They want a real profession, recognized and well paid.
We therefore invite the Government of Quebec and in particular the Prime Minister and the Minister of Families to take a step back in order to reflect on all the systemic issues involved in this early childhood labor shortage. We offer our research expertise and our knowledge of the early childhood educational childcare network in order to contribute to a real social debate regarding educational quality. It is indeed the future of this profession of educators, as well as the quality of the network of educational early childhood care services, essential to the well-being and development of young children, their families and society as a whole, who are in danger if we do not collectively think about effective solutions that take into account the real needs of the community.
*Have co-signed this letter:
Caroline Bouchard, full professor (ULaval) and director of the Early Childhood, Life-size Joint Research Unit / Lorie-Marlène Brault Foisy, professor (UQAM) and holder of the UQAM Strategic Chair in cognitive neuroscience from early childhood / Annie Charron, full professor (UQAM) and holder of the UQAM Strategic Chair on the educational success of children in preschool / Sylvana Coté, full professor, School of Public Health, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Montreal / Mathieu Point, professor (UQTR) and co-holder of the Chair of Excellence in Teaching Education through nature and learning territory / Sophie Mathieu, visiting professor (Université Téluq) and member of the National Advisory Council on Learning and Childcare of young children / Caroline Doré, president of the Association of Teachers in Early Childhood Education Techniques (AEETEE) of Quebec and teacher at Cégep de Drummondville / Valérie Grenon, president of the Federation of Early Childhood Workers of Quebec (FIPEQ-CSQ) / Line Camerlain, first vice-president of the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) / Caroline Senneville, president of the Confédération des Syndicats nationaux (CSN) / Lucie Longchamps, vice-president of the Fédération de la health and social services of the CSN (FSSS-CSN) / Denis Bolduc, general secretary of the Federation of Quebec Workers (FTQ) / Élyse Lebeau, MBA, Adm. A., general director of the Association of CPE executives of Quebec (ACCPEQ) / Sandro Di Cori, general director of the Quebec CPE Association (AQCPE) / Mariève G.-Poliquin, Emma Bernard, Élisabeth O’Farrell and Émilie Dechamplain, instigators of the Valorisons ma Profession movement / Marilou Fuller, general director of the Ma place au Travail movement / Élise Bonneville, director of the Early Childhood Collective
Follow this link to view the full list of signatories.